Blog . Eli Duke . Com

the last week and a half has been unbelievable. i’ve really started to settle into a routine and my days are jam packed with activities; there is not enough time in my day to do everything i want to do.

since my daily work routine doesn’t start until 11am, i try to wake up early at least 3 days a week and go volunteer in a different departments or go on a tour somewhere. after work there’s either band practice, parties, science lectures, hikes, et cetera.

i’ll break it down for you:

PARTIES

there have been 3 different parties this last week and each one was great for it’s own right. the first was a food service work party. they rented out Hut 10 (a small house specifically for parties and such) and we danced the night away until about 2am.

that party was followed by the halloween party on saturday the 27th! it was held over at the gym (where we played basketball the other night), and it completely and totally ROCKED! everyone was there and it was jam packed with amazing costumes and great dance music and we all had a great time.

then on halloween night there was a meet-and-greet party thing at our dorm (MMI) so that we could all meet each other and see each other’s rooms and just generally know who we are living with.

VOLUNTEERING / TOURS

volunteering is a tradition here at McMurdo. for the most part, it’s other people volunteering in the galley to wash dishes and scrub pots. everyone knows that we have the worst job and they do their best to help out.

since i already work in the galley, i’m doing a different kind of volunteering: i’m networking and schmoozing to try and get a better job in the future. it’s a really common tactic around here, so i’ve started volunteering in the morning.

this past week i volunteered at Waste twice (helping sort trash and stuff) and went on a tour of the power plant and the water treatment plant with meredith. she and i also went out to the runway when nate’s flight came in. it was great!

JAMMING

on our second night in town there was a rock show at gallagher’s. a friend of mine knew that i was a drummer and introduced me to THE music guy in town: kish. we agreed to meet up sometime and jam, and left it at that.

about a week later we finally got together in the band room for a test run and things couldn’t have gone better. we totally meshed and i loved the music, so i joined the already existing ska/punk band, LEVEL 5. we got together a few more times with the whole band and jammed our asses off (learning 10 songs) to get ready for our first show TONIGHT!! AHHHH!!

then i got an email from kish a few days ago asking if i could also play in his reggae band, Jah Chant. apparently, the drummer for the reggae band is sick and can’t play the show tonight. so, last night after LEVEL 5 practice we ran through about 8 reggae songs and figured that would be good enough.

wish me luck!